Tag Archives: Nonfiction

This book got me into some trouble–well, this book and the other four I brought on vacation, which formed a solid, suspicious, sharp-edged block that caused a TSA agent to inform me that she needed to search my bag. I’m … Continue reading →

When we reflect on politics in America, as annoying/frustrating/horrifying as things might seem, Sarah Chayes reminds us that they could always get worse. In THIEVES OF STATE: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security, she explains how corruption has overtaken Afghanistan, Nigeria, … Continue reading →

This book reminded me how lucky I have been. I grew up in a house full of books. From first grade forward, every school I attended had its own library, and as soon as my parents let me ride my … Continue reading →

Having just finished DREAM LAND, about the opioid crisis, I turned to EVICTION, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winner subtitled Poverty and Profit in the American City. You could say I’m a glutton for bad news, but it’s more like I’m trying … Continue reading →

Depending on where you live and whom you know, you might know quite a lot about opioid addiction. You might have seen firsthand how someone goes to a doctor for back pain and ends up hooked on OxyContin. You might … Continue reading →

Not long after I turned 14, I was hired to do salad prep at a local restaurant. On my first day, a young man probably in his early 20s was assigned to train me. He picked up a knife and … Continue reading →

I recognize that the title of this book might discourage some portion of the population from picking it up, but that would be a missed opportunity. David Litt’s entertaining memoir, subtitled My Hopey, Changey White House Years, is more than … Continue reading →

Trevor Noah’s memoir BORN A CRIME (subtitled Stories from a South African Childhood) is actually three books in one: an insider’s account of what it was like for a mixed-race person to grow up in South Africa during apartheid, a … Continue reading →

The first thing you need to know is that I read this book, which is 272 pages long, in one sitting. That should tell you something. LOVE WARRIOR, Glennon Doyle Melton’s memoir, is ostensibly about what she did after she … Continue reading →

Even though I knew Jane Mayer’s DARK MONEY (subtitled The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right) would be impeccably written and assiduously fact-checked (she writes for The New Yorker, and they are known for … Continue reading →